Law360, New York (March 1, 2005, 12:00 AM EST) -- A reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal Sony-Betamax doctrine would stifle innovation, file-sharing companies and “friends of the court” argued in briefs filed with the high court on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court is getting ready for a March 29 rehearing of a decision by the the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that file-swapping software makers Grokster and StreamCast were not liable for the copyright infringement of users who swap music and movie files across their networks.